Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (SPOILERS)

[Dave]

One area that I'd like to know more about is Palpatine "surviving" DS2.  My personal feeling is his body died, but he was able to transfer his consciousness to a waiting clone.

I am hoping the novelization gets in to this a bit more. 

I went looking for the novel on Amazon and was surprised to see that it doesn't get released until March.  I guess I'll have to wait...

[Nicklab]

One area that I'd like to know more about is Palpatine "surviving" DS2.  My personal feeling is his body died, but he was able to transfer his consciousness to a waiting clone.

I am hoping the novelization gets in to this a bit more. 

I went looking for the novel on Amazon and was surprised to see that it doesn't get released until March.  I guess I'll have to wait...

I'm thinking something like that, too.  Case in point?  Snoke.  The first few minutes of the movie make it clear that Snoke was a creation of Palpatine and his cabal.  And Snoke looked like he was one of the only viable creations of that process.  The others that were in the tanks looked like either a work in progress or failures.

I'm also thinking that this storyline links in with some other subplots throughout the saga:  the children of the Force, as seen in Clone Wars, where Darth Sidious was trying to gather Force sensitive children; the Inquisitors during the age of the Empire, who sought out Force sensitives, either to hunt them down and eliminate them or put them to use for Imperial purposes;  and the Child in The Mandalorian, who the Client was looking to harvest genetic material from him in that show.  Is the process of cloning a Force sensitive individual possible?  That seems like a question worth discussing.

Originally, I thought that perhaps Palpatine had opened a portal to the World between Worlds as seen in Rebels.  But if he had done that, wouldn't he have been able to stage a more immediate return?  And his appearance would have remained much the same as we saw him in ROTJ.  But the Palpatine we saw at the beginning of the movie looked like he had not suffered the facial deformities caused by Mace Windu re-directing his Force lightning back at him during their fight in ROTS.  This Palpatine appeared to be blind, needed to be suspended from that crane looking device, and had deformed fingers.  I have to think that Palpatine was able to transfer his consciousness from his old body to a somewhat incomplete clone body, much like he planned to pass his spirit onto Rey once she performed the sacrifice on Exogol.

[Darth_Anton]

I'm watching this again tonight. At home.

[Matt_Fury]

I'm watching this again tonight. At home.

Went sailing the high seas eh?

[Qui-Gon Jim]

After a second viewing, I enjoyed the film a lot more.  Not a perfect movie, but very enjoyable.

I'm also now convinced Finn is force sensitive and that's what he was going to tell Rey.

I read somewhere that JJ confirmed this at a screenning.  Also confirmed that the opening scene was on Mustafar and the first Sith Wayfinder was in Vader's throne room.

[McMetal]

After a second viewing, I enjoyed the film a lot more.  Not a perfect movie, but very enjoyable.

I'm also now convinced Finn is force sensitive and that's what he was going to tell Rey.

I read somewhere that JJ confirmed this at a screenning.  Also confirmed that the opening scene was on Mustafar and the first Sith Wayfinder was in Vader's throne room.

Yep, saw that too. I thought every SW planet only had one geographic feature, so the trees threw me at the beginning there. The reference to the Almazec (sp?) as a Vader cult was interesting too.

[StBrianOfMinneapolis]

After a second viewing, I enjoyed the film a lot more.  Not a perfect movie, but very enjoyable.

I'm also now convinced Finn is force sensitive and that's what he was going to tell Rey.

I read somewhere that JJ confirmed this at a screenning.  Also confirmed that the opening scene was on Mustafar and the first Sith Wayfinder was in Vader's throne room.

The Visual Dictionary confirms this was Mustafar as well.

[Jesse James]

I saw it 4 times this weekend and liked it each time equally...  I agree with some of the nitpicks but I felt it tied things up well while Both paying homage to and giving sly criticism to TLJ without outwardly ******** on it.  I feel like Abrams at the helm was inevitably going to see some changes but I enjoyed that he didn’t just chuck out or overwrite TLJ.  If anything I feel he makes it stronger than it was to me before (I liked it but it wasn’t my fav film). 

I was moved by the Jedi and felt they got all the necessary ones then tossed in some familiar voices to heighten fan feelings...  I liked that. 

I loved the fleet showing up to save the Resistance and the FO officer calling them just people...  yes, people.  People got sick of your **** and decided you suck ass and they’re not putting up with you and your ilk so boom.

I loved Han...  like, teared up at “Hey Kid”.

I love that you can analyze this and say Rey’s super powerful or say no it’s Ben who was...  I liked that ambiguity there.  Fans can see either that way and they’d not be wrong.

I loved Rey taking the Skywalker name, playing on the whole overall theme going back to TFA at least that who you are doesn’t matter.  You can be what you want...  Ben wasn’t always destined to be bad because of his bloodline and Rey didn’t need to long for a family she kept hoping would come back.  She’d get a new one...  family isn’t always about the name or the blood.  I really liked that and people hating it seem to gloss over that cohesive storyline from all 3 of the films. 

I have nitpicks like Hux being a waste, KOR being a waste, and other stuff (good point on the Falcon “crashing” but then again so did Luke on Dagobah, the Falcon in Solo, Falcon in TFA...  who knows why).  But for me Rey and Ben’s story was pretty perfect for what I subconsciously wanted I think.  I didn’t go in with expectations and left quite happy.

The ST for me is superior to the PT right now and pretty much entrenched that way.  I liked this more for sure.

[Jeff]

I loved Han...  like, teared up at “Hey Kid”.

When Ben says, "Dad." and Han says, "I know"?  So good.  Just perfect, really.

[Nicklab]

I loved Han...  like, teared up at “Hey Kid”.

When Ben says, "Dad." and Han says, "I know"?  So good.  Just perfect, really.

That scene genuinely took me by surprise.  And when I saw it?  It was this perfect mirror image of their scene together on Starkiller Base.  But it became clear that like so many of the events in our lives, major changes hinge on the simple choices that we make.

The way this scene played out was nothing short of touching.  And as much as I had reviled Kylo Ren through the Sequel Trilogy, his transformation back to Ben Solo was undeniable and I was surprised at the empathy I had for him.  I think that Adam Driver deserves a tremendous amount of credit for how he played this role throughout the ST.

[Dave]

I caught it for a second time yesterday and I thought it flowed a lot better the second time.

Its still got too much in it and jumps around too much, but I thought it held together really well.

Some new things I noticed the second time around:
- Babu Frik was really funny
- Why was R2 the astromech in Poe's X-Wing and BB-8 was accompanying the ground assault team?  I thought that was weird.
- Jannah shoots her bow once.  Its probably just me, but nonsensical "special weapons" in movies kind of bug me.  Why wouldn't everyone just use a blaster?
- I wouldn't mind a Poe / Zorri mini-series on Disney+ that covers their spice running days.  They had some good lines/chemistry.
- Ben/Kylo lands on the Sith world with a blaster, shoots some royal guards, and then loses his blaster or chooses to do a hand to hand combat with the Knights of Ren.  They should have skipped the royal guards blaster part and had him go hand to hand the whole time.

If they had a chance to go back and redo it they could have simplified the McGuffin journey for the Sith wayfinders and spent more time with the characters (or cut some out).  Jannah should have had more or been cut.  Spending more time with Ben and Rey would have been a plus.

[JediJman]

I think Jannah was serving the role that Rose was initially intended to play.  There's not much story for Finn without Jannah to make him feel more accepted/understood.  She really didn't take up that much screen time and I'd rather have her role than more Rose.  She just really doesn't seem like a great actress.

I've been thinking more about the Jedi Spirits and am really liking the theory that the reason they couldn't go after Palpatine is that the sith essence would flow into them, making the Emporor nearly invincible.  Yoda using powers in E8 is one of the things that bugged me most about TLJ, but I'm more accepting of how the "dead" Jedi are used throughout the trilogy if this was the rationale behind their limited involvement.

[Jeff]

- Why was R2 the astromech in Poe's X-Wing and BB-8 was accompanying the ground assault team?

I brought that up when my kids and I were talking about the movie yesterday.  My daughter said "because BB-8's faster", which is as good a reason as any I guess. Don't know if R2 could have kept up with the alien-horse assault team the way BB-8 did. 

[Dave]

- Why was R2 the astromech in Poe's X-Wing and BB-8 was accompanying the ground assault team?

I brought that up when my kids and I were talking about the movie yesterday.  My daughter said "because BB-8's faster", which is as good a reason as any I guess. Don't know if R2 could have kept up with the alien-horse assault team the way BB-8 did. 

I assumed that too, but thought they could have used rocket R2-D2 or any random ball droid.  I thought it was odd not to have BB-8 with Poe, and double odd to have R2 involved.  I don't think R2 had left the rebel headquarters in the sequel trilogy until that battle.

[Scott]

Saw it again today in IMAX which was kick ass...

Night one didn’t hit me as hard emotionally as this viewing did...Han and Leia saving their son and his redemption was so perfectly done I love how all of that played out

I literally had tears in my eyes from the Death Star duel on...And stuff I liked night one I liked even more

John Williams absolutely nailed the score on this...the notes being played during Rey and Rens fight on the Death Star was amazing...as was the main theme swelling as the fleet of nobody’s show up

I still don’t get the First Order ships falling from the sky on Endor and Bespin

My boys and I were talking on the way home, with the Sith gone and Rey and Finn allowed to rebuild the Jedi Order how are they going to set up the new Big Bad(s)?   Yuuzahn Vong type of threat from outside the Galaxy?  I can’t believe this is the end of their stories...and so want to know where they think what they can dream up next.